Bitcoin’s price plummeted after Russian President Vladimir Putin vowed on television to complete Ukraine’s demilitarization.
Bitcoin has dropped by more than 6.5 percent as of the time of writing, trading between $35,000 and $35,150. This crash in prices is coming on the back of the early morning invasion of Russia into Ukraine.
According to data from CoinMarketCap, the total cryptocurrency market cap has lost roughly 5% in the last 24 hours, bringing it to $1.6 trillion.
Much of those losses came in the immediate run-up and aftermath of the invasion. In under half an hour, Bitcoin plummeted from its perch of $37,000 to below $35,500.
Economist Jason Furman, a former advisor to President Barack Obama, this week said, “Russia is incredibly unimportant in the global economy except for oil and gas. It’s basically a big gas station.”
Bitcoin has been on a downward trajectory following the tension between both countries, which heightened early last week but worsened after this early morning invasion.
The financial markets all over the world have been badly affected by this renewed political tension.
U.S. stock markets continued further into correction territory today, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropping 1.38%.
Asian markets, which were open during Putin’s announcement, are also reacting; the Nikkei is down 1% and China’s Hang Seng Index is trading over 2% lower.